Review Text

Rhymes of the Times 

By: Harold Matthew Nash 

 

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Publisher: Booksurge

Reviewed by: John Lehman

   

I particularly liked the first few pages of this book where the poet acknowledges those who have helped him and tells us something about his life. Too often writing is a lonely task and poetry so personal that it excludes others until they read the final result. But both poets and audiences are intimately involved in the process. Readers are not consumers looking for a pair of shoes, but people trying to discover something about how they feel, as well as understand the emotions of the person writing the poem. This spirit of openness and participation is right here from the start in this collection. 

Harold is one of nine children, raised by his mother. In the Introduction he tells us about public moments that have shaped his life (Martin Luther King’s ”I Have a Dream” speech, Muhammad Ali’s “I can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”) as well as very private ones like attending the wedding of a girl he was still very much in love with. This not only gives us an insight into the person behind these poems, it helps us understand their inspiration and connection to things outside of the words. “The Bee in the Web” draws on the “butterfly”/”bee” of Ali’s boast, yet expands on it to a message of racial harmony as opposed to one of militant aggression and separatism. 

There are some great titles (“The Martian and the Wino,” “W Stands for Wrong", ”Fasten Your Seatbelt”) and lines that make us think (“Sometimes I feel that life’s a curse, has front-wheel drive and no reverse” and the very poignant “I hate in order to protect yourself—you pack a gun or mace. So why don’t I say what the hell and hate the human race.”) There are also some bad lines: “Her skin is cream, her body is slim. Looking at her makes the average saint sin.”—perhaps, but what or who is “the average saint”? The book ends with a sweet poem by Charla Angeline Hultmann (and I really like the candor of her bio) called “Gift” and “giving” is the real spirit of this book of poetry. 

I will be honest, I am not a fan of rhyme. There is a delight in adjacent sounds rubbing together—vowels held and savored, consonants clicking in a row—but “easy” rhymes (“head”/“dead”; “love”/”dove”; “moon”/”prune”) tend to overshadow poetic subtleties, determine word choice and the words themselves lose their meaning, becoming clichés. But this is the music of this poet’s generation, and there is no denying that poetry is more alive, more meaningful and more accessible than it has ever been at any other time during my life. PS I do love the “Osama” “mama” rhyme. In general I think it would benefit Harold Nash’s development to read more of the published contemporary Black poets. 


But form aside, this is an honest (courageous and unflinching) look at life today—one we need to share together for the survival of us all. That is “Rhymes of the Times” message. And it is a good one.

Source : http://www.englishindo.com/2012/01/review-text-penjelasan-contoh.html#ixzz4jw40oLJc

News Item

The Worst Crash of Aircraft

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Paradise Island, November 10 1989 a terrible crash happened. There were hundreds people killed by that time.

In the first, American Airline was in turbulence condition aggravated with the damage machine, the pilot couldn’t fix till the aircraft out of control.  The aircraft crash in the toll road. In other side, a black car was speeding up in the toll road. Then the collision “boom” happened between American airline and black car that was known as a Chevrolet. The wing and tail section of the plane crashed into pieces while the car badly damage. Blood, tears, fire and smoke mixed in that place, everyone needed help. Fifteen minutes later police and fire brigades helped victims of this terrible crash. There were hundreds people died on the spot include two of four stewardesses. Just seven people were saved. There were five passengers, pilot and co-pilot. The victims and survivors were evacuated and taken to the hospital. This information was reported by David Harts.

Reporters interviewed the saved passengers in the location. One of the saved passengers Albert (28 old) said with tears “I was inside the plane and panic, I don’t know the exactly but it was so fast, then it happened, I lost my friends”. A driver of another car as witness said it was terrible, fire around of the plane and car. The police tried to help the saved and the victims. Many people died, it was terrible accident”.